This invention relates to cabinets for storing and dispensing prescription medications, non-prescription pharmaceuticals, medical supplies and other similar items for patient care in a hospital, clinic, nursing home, or similar health care facility. The invention is more specifically directed to a medical dispensing cabinet, with one or more pull-out drawers in which medical items are stored in individual compartments, which compartments may have locking lids or covers. The invention is more particularly concerned with a cabinet with limited access and with accountability of access and dispensing, and which may assist in the prevention of fraudulent access and reduction of medical errors.
In any hospital or clinic, or in wards or floors of the hospital or health center, controlled access cabinets are used for storage of pharmaceuticals and of other limited-access medical supplies. The medications prescribed for patients need to be conveniently accessible for the authorized nurse staff, but also need to be protected from unauthorized access of prescription medications, controlled substances, and high-value medical supplies. Dispensing cabinets typically have a stack of pull-out drawers that each have a number of compartments. Any practical cabinets of this type simply have drawers divided into compartments with no control of access once the drawer has been opened. In some of these there is a locking or latching mechanism associated with the individual lids.
The compartments may be filled or replenished by pharmacy staff, and later accessed by nursing staff to administer items to patients.
The cabinet may be of a suitable size for containing a variety of medical supplies and medications in amounts proper for the day to day needs of the medical staff and patients. For example, tall medical supply cabinets are commonly used in many health care facilities, with locking doors for limited access to some items, and locking drawers, each with several rows of divided compartments, for storage of prescription medications, non-prescription medications and supplies, hypodermic needles and syringes, and other materials that may be needed.
It is desirable to maintain a record of which supplies and which medications are stored, and in what quantities, in which locking or non-locking compartments of one or more of the drawers, and to unlock the one specific compartment lid for a given medication or supply item when it is needed to access the same to administer to a given patient.
In some cases, only dividers are present in the drawers and it is then not possible to limit access for specific compartments within the drawer.
These locking cabinets often incorporate USB connections (for access to a computer) and may incorporate control circuitry with software for controlling unlocking functions and inventory functions. These may be capable of IP addressable configurations, for access over a hospital network, to a personal computer, tablet, or hand-held device.
In the case of a multiple-compartment pull-out drawer, either in a floor-standing cabinet, a wall-mounted cabinet, or a portable cart, there may be respective tops or lids, each covering a divided section or compartment in the drawer. LED lights may be used to indicate whether a given compartment is unlocked and open. Sensors in each compartment may provide open-closed status for the compartments, and this permits the cabinet to capture an audit trail of which compartment has been opened, and by whom. In the past, these compartments were non-locking, but it was possible to sense and track which compartment had been accessed. Until the present, drawers divided into individual compartments with locking lids have employed rather complex locking systems, with individual latches, releases and actuators for each compartment lid.